As some group members moved off, Udo Koro Kai instinctively moved to follow them. When facing the unknown, safety lay in numbers. However, he allotted a moment for Edwin's question before rushing off through the shallow water and into the yawning dark aperture.
“Not I. For future reference, Motus is my specialty. Observe: Idou.” For the purpose of demonstration, Kai muttered the incantation of a spell, and in an instant darted a few feet forward, his form blurry. Acknowledging the lack of necessity of further discussion with Edwin, Kai turned not back to confirm the mage's notice, but forged ahead, after the fleeting, vague shapes of Riad and Aron.
Unlike conventional sewers, this system lay separate from waste disposal. Lavatory plumbing operated in another sphere of pipes, much smaller and less elaborate than these, for to handle the fetid byproducts of the human digestive system large, walkable canals and tunnels constituted a waste in and of themselves. These algae-strewn depths were more comparable to the ocean itself, certainly not free of contaminant but with salt water rather than repulsive slime, and a pervading fishy, low-tide odor rather than the noxious, senses-affronting stench of ordinary city sewers. Mixing sewage with the water that regularly flowed out into the city was, after all, a plan ripe for disease and disaster. Still, they were hardly livable, and as Kai caught up to Riad and Aron, he learned from their words that both well-acquainted with such conditions.
“This place,” he remarked evenly,
“must have a certain charm to it I do not understand. If you are well familiar with it, Mr. Aurum, and you know little about what is going on, it is reasonable to expect that the area more directly related to the problem is hidden from view. And Riad...” Kai gave the illusioneer a sharp look.
“I suspect it would sound as telling as it would anywhere else.”He looked back at Marianne and Ricard, a trace of concern flashing in his eyes, but after taking notice of Mr. Ghurst he decided an action of leadership was in order.
“Ah, you are wise, Mr. Ghurst. In here, light is of utmost importance.” He removed a tiny pocket-lantern from a pouch on his belt and flicked a mechanism to activate it. An electric beam of light, condensed by a built-in mirror, shone through the darkness. It provided a narrower, but longer, field of vision than Ghurst's lantern. When Edwin, now caught up as well, spoke up, Kai reached out with a placating hand to caution him but found the mage summoning his own magical light and forging right ahead. After a quick check to make sure that the quiet Ms. Abal had accompanied them, Kai embarked into the gloom after Edwin. Almost immediately, the tunnel by which the party had entered widened, resolving itself into a deeper middle canal and two bare concrete sidewalks of lesser width on either side. Stepping onto one of those walks, Kai moved along slowly enough to signify that the others should follow him.
Along Edwin's path
Beneath the glow of his flare, Edwin encountered little out of the ordinary on his brief trip. The concrete floor, permanently moist, was littered with various debris tossed up by the waters in higher tides. Mud, crushed bits of shell, shreds of seaplant, and all manner of minute crustaceans whether living or dead lay underfoot. His illumination revealed niter clinging to the walls amidst the loose stony bricks, but no mosses—only a hundred feet or so from the sewer entrance seemed to be more than enough to deprive all plant life of essential sunlight, even lichens with their fungal symbiosis. It didn't take long for Edwin to suddenly happen upon a four-way junction in the tunnel. Each direction seemed about as inhospitably dingy as the next, but Aron would know that a small colony of sewer-folk lay some distance to the left, a tunnel which slanted upward. Edwin, meanwhile, was more likely to notice a vast, pale shape lying about a foot beneath the water's surface smack dab in the center of the four-way junction. While it didn't appear to be moving, its vague definition beneath the dirty water suggested it to be about as large as a cow.
Spurred on by Eresa's affirmation, Mancer bowed his head slightly in polite respect. While not at all foreign to the idea of people being nice to curry trust from him, he could not help but like the golem for her sense of consideration, a very human sense that ironically arose from precious few humans. He did not suspect her of hollow gestures, and ably preceded her up the latter to the slummy Silt Street on his jackal legs.
Not eager to make a show of his deformity, despite just showing how well he'd acclimated to it over time, Mancer secured his snowy cloak's comforting drape about his bony frame before continuing. He looked upon the dwarfs with a slight incredulity, for most of the dwarfs he'd seen in urban centers including Ebb dallied not in such reprehensible habitats as this. On second thought, it wasn't unreasonable to assume that, just as with all societies, that of dwarfs fostered its fair share of rejects. Mancer removed his gaze from the locals and pointed them toward his destination. He found himself walking beside the warlike late arrival, the man who Kai had identified as Dane Joshin. Mancer felt better knowing that his group included a warrior such as he. Together with Levi, and perhaps Eresa if close combat proved to be her forte, he'd be making sure that any enemies couldn't get through to the more fragile members of the party, such as himself. Already the other members of the group felt closer to him, if only because of their fellowship. Passing Kadoodle, Mancer accepted a cookie, softly thanking the goblin for his gift.
Happenstance dictated that Mancer, perhaps galvanized by Eresa's approval, entered the headquarters Depth Plumbers first. After pushing open an unanswered door whose hinged squealed in protest, he crossed the threshold to find a rather large interior. Immediately after the frontmost room, a hallway that ran side-to-side offered a choice. Standing within now, Mancer could see that on one side the hallway opened up into a large room, brightly lit with cheap industrial glare, with bare gray concrete walls and floor. In the other direction lay a yellowish chamber, more homely, likely living quarters. Mancer took a step in the latter way and was disgusted as his foot sank into a thick whitish slime lying upon the ground.
“Yeck.” Luckily, it slid off when he lifted his foot. On closer inspection the stuff seemed to blanket the floor on the direction he held, and the closer he got to the living quarters, the more the various items seemed to be in disarray—tools, papers, clothes.
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